So in the Chicago area on Lake Michigan, the ice is out and marinas start to open April 1. I see 2 power boats in slips already. 1 is a charter fishing boat. The other a pleasure boat.
I pulled the winter cover off Tally Ho yesterday, and went to Crowleys Yacht Yard today for their annual spring open house. They usually have a sale on VC17m bottom paint, they put on a few classes, they have a big Nautical Donations flea market, etc.
I usually pick up VC17 from them, and was very interested to see if they had the original or the reformulated stuff. They did have the original formula, on sale for $59.95, and a $5 per quart rebate. They suggested to “stock up” as the prices for the reformulated stuff will be $20 a quart higher next year…maybe A scare tactic, but maybe not. I ended up buying 4 quarts. And since I go 2 years between redcoats, I will be Oak for a few years ;-)
I had a list of odds and ends to look for in the flea market, which I didn’t find, but I scored some goodies just the same…
I needed some extra winch handle pockets to house my favorite spiders and to keep handles more accessible. Picked up these 2 ($2 each). I grabbed a jam cleat for a project to bring my topping lift back to a winch ($1), The biggest find was a bag of pawls and springs…I saw some in the ship store for $62. The bag of springs and pawls was $5. So, when I checked out, I tried to negotiate the price for down for the pawls and spring, and just got everything for $6. I separated and sorted the springs and pawls, replaced a spring I broke servicing a winch in my shop. A very nice find.
I separately saw a Loos Gauge. I grabbed it for $20. But after I got it home, I realized it is the PT1. I need a PT2 for 1/4“ wire…so not as good of a deal as I thought. Will sell it and see if I can find a PT2….oh well.
After sitting through a West Marine intro to epoxy class, I was heading out with my bag of goodies, and I decided to see if I could negotiate for a 200-foot spool of 3-braid line…it was marked $40. I offered $20. The nice lady reminded me it was a donation for charity…and said how about $30? I thanked her and pushed the spool of rope back to her….and she said …how about $25? OK
When I got home, there was a package in my mailbox…from my Brother-in-law. He owns a machine shop, and years ago had made me a tool set to remove my prop, press out cutlass bearing, press shaft out of coupling…really well done. I mentioned to him I needed a 1 1/8” deep socket to tighten one of the keel bolts on Tally Ho. The deepest one I could find at my local store wasn’t deep enough (needed about 3”). He asked me a few questions, and today the new socket showed up!
The red one is my 11/2“ socket, but the O’Day 322 has 1 bolt that is smaller than the others and of course, mine has nots of threads above the nut…so I needed a really deep 1 1/8” socket. Brother-in-law to the rescue again!
i sanded down the old red one, and cleaned them both, and hit them with a few coats of primer and now red enamel paint to protect them.
So, it was sort of like Christmas today…now if the rail would go away, and the temps warm up enough to paint my bottom, I will be ready to splash Tally Ho on April 1st!
Cheers,
Greg
I pulled the winter cover off Tally Ho yesterday, and went to Crowleys Yacht Yard today for their annual spring open house. They usually have a sale on VC17m bottom paint, they put on a few classes, they have a big Nautical Donations flea market, etc.
I usually pick up VC17 from them, and was very interested to see if they had the original or the reformulated stuff. They did have the original formula, on sale for $59.95, and a $5 per quart rebate. They suggested to “stock up” as the prices for the reformulated stuff will be $20 a quart higher next year…maybe A scare tactic, but maybe not. I ended up buying 4 quarts. And since I go 2 years between redcoats, I will be Oak for a few years ;-)
I had a list of odds and ends to look for in the flea market, which I didn’t find, but I scored some goodies just the same…
I needed some extra winch handle pockets to house my favorite spiders and to keep handles more accessible. Picked up these 2 ($2 each). I grabbed a jam cleat for a project to bring my topping lift back to a winch ($1), The biggest find was a bag of pawls and springs…I saw some in the ship store for $62. The bag of springs and pawls was $5. So, when I checked out, I tried to negotiate the price for down for the pawls and spring, and just got everything for $6. I separated and sorted the springs and pawls, replaced a spring I broke servicing a winch in my shop. A very nice find.
I separately saw a Loos Gauge. I grabbed it for $20. But after I got it home, I realized it is the PT1. I need a PT2 for 1/4“ wire…so not as good of a deal as I thought. Will sell it and see if I can find a PT2….oh well.
After sitting through a West Marine intro to epoxy class, I was heading out with my bag of goodies, and I decided to see if I could negotiate for a 200-foot spool of 3-braid line…it was marked $40. I offered $20. The nice lady reminded me it was a donation for charity…and said how about $30?
I thanked her and pushed the spool of rope back to her….and she said …how about $25? OK When I got home, there was a package in my mailbox…from my Brother-in-law. He owns a machine shop, and years ago had made me a tool set to remove my prop, press out cutlass bearing, press shaft out of coupling…really well done. I mentioned to him I needed a 1 1/8” deep socket to tighten one of the keel bolts on Tally Ho. The deepest one I could find at my local store wasn’t deep enough (needed about 3”). He asked me a few questions, and today the new socket showed up!
The red one is my 11/2“ socket, but the O’Day 322 has 1 bolt that is smaller than the others and of course, mine has nots of threads above the nut…so I needed a really deep 1 1/8” socket. Brother-in-law to the rescue again!
i sanded down the old red one, and cleaned them both, and hit them with a few coats of primer and now red enamel paint to protect them.
So, it was sort of like Christmas today…now if the rail would go away, and the temps warm up enough to paint my bottom, I will be ready to splash Tally Ho on April 1st!
Cheers,
Greg
